Person:Edward Cowan (1)

Overview

The following is from Sell, 1911, and provides a brief family history for Edward Cowen who settled at Roaring Springs, Morrison Cove, in Bedford County PA, about 1786

ALBERT A. COWEN, a prominent agriculturist and leading citizen of Taylor Township, Blair County, Pa., is a representative of one of the sturdy Irish families that came to America shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, these colonists having made a large part of what is the best citizenship of the United States. Albert A. Cowen was born in Taylor Township, September 27, 1849, and is a son of David N. and Elizabeth (Croft) Cowen, and a grandson of Edward Cowen, who settled near Roaring Spring, on what is now known as the Woodbury turnpike road.

The Cowen ancestry has been traced by other investigators and reaches to the north of Ireland. From there two brothers, Edward and William Cowen, emigrated to America, and after a long and stormy passage, reached Philadelphia, Pa., in 1785. Before starting out to secure a pioneer farm, Edward Cowen was married in January, 1786, at Philadelphia, to Elizabeth Pote a native of Germany, who had been a fellow passenger. She proved an admirable helpmate, cheerfully shared the hardships that attended them for many years, frugally preserved their scanty means and proudly became the mother of his twelve sturdy children. In the succeeding years these married and intermarried and at the present time the leading families of this section have a strain of the Cowen-Pote blood and frequently the family characteristics.

David N. Cowen was born on the tract of government land that his father had secured through the Penn heirs, this patent calling for a body of land extending from the Dunning's Mountain on the west across the valley just one mile south of Roaring Spring. At that time there were so many springs found on his land, that Mr. Cowen named his property Spring Garden, but the larger number of these have disappeared. The farm now owned by Albert A. Cowen was originally a part of what was called the Ullery Tract, on a portion of which the borough of Roaring Spring now stands. David N. Cowen followed an agricultural life. It was one of industry and quiet usefulness and when he passed away he left behind him the record of a good. man. He married Elizabeth Croft and of their family of children the following survive: Albert A.; George L., who is a minister in the Baptist church, is located at Chesterfield, N. J.; and Eli C., Mary L., and Annie, who all reside in Taylor Township; and Edward D., who is a physician in practice at Cottonwood, S. Dak.

Albert A. Cowen was reared in Taylor Township. He attended the district schools and Martinsburg Seminary and also received valuable instruction in a private Normal School at Bedford, Pa. Mr. Cowen then became a teacher for a short period, teaching three terms in Blair and Bedford Counties, since when he has devoted himself to farming and moderate stock raising. In addition to his Taylor Township farm of Eighty-six acres, he owns a farm of like acreage in Woodbury Township, both of these being productive properties.

Mr. Cowen married Miss Susan Long, a daughter of David Long, of Bedford County, and seven children were born to them, three of whom, Emory, Charles and David, are deceased. The survivors are: W. Howard, Warren G., Arthur O. and Vora M., all residents of Taylor Township. In his political views, Mr. Cowen is a Republican.

...Sell, Jesse C., Twentieth Century History of Altoona and Blair County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Citizens, Chicago, IL: Richmond-Arnold, 1911, pp. 654-655.

EDWARD H. COWEN, a representative agriculturist of Taylor Township, Blair County, Pa., and one of its most respected citizens, was born in this township, on the farm on which he resides, October 25, 1859. His parents were John and Barbara (Hoover) Cowen.

John Cowen was born in Taylor Township and was a son of Jacob Cowen and a grandson of Edward Cowen, one of the early settlers in this section. John Cowen was a farmer and was a leading member of the Dunkard church. He married Barbara Hoover, of German ancestry, and of their children, the following are still living and useful members of society: Catherine, who is the wife of George Shifler, of Huston Township; Mary, who is the widow of Samuel Bottomfield, of Williamsburg, Pa.; Henry, who lives in Shelby County, Ia.; Nancy, who is the wife of Henry Smith, of Martinsburg, Pa., and Edward H.